Note:  This week's release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment claims seasonal adjustment factors. The historical factors from 1998 forward have been revised. See attachment for calendar year 2004 factors.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

          SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 342,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 345,000. The 4-week moving average was 340,250, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 340,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending March 20, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.4 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 20 was 3,062,000, an increase of 32,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,030,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,056,500, a decrease of 14,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,071,000.
 

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 295,820 in the week ending March 27, a decrease of  9,423 from the previous week. There were 371,692 initial claims in the comparable week in 2003.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent during the week ending March 20, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,398,430, a decrease of 119,576 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 3.1 percent and the volume was 3,939,370.

Extended benefits were available in Alaska during the week ending March 13.

53 states reported that 161,806 individuals filed continued claims under the Federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program during the week ending March 13.

Initial claims for UI benefits by former Federal civilian employees totaled 936 in the week ending March 20, a decrease of 156 from the prior week. There were 1,508 initial claims by newly discharged veterans, a decrease of 181 from the preceding week.

There were 18,655 former Federal civilian employees claiming UI benefits for the week ending March 13, a decrease of 1,884 from the previous week. Newly discharged veterans claiming benefits totaled 27,873, an increase of 186 from the prior week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 13 were in Alaska (6.4 percent), Puerto Rico (4.5), Michigan (4.4), Pennsylvania ( 4.3), Oregon (4.1), Illinois (4.0), Wisconsin (4.0), Massachusetts (3.8), New Jersey (3.8), and Rhode Island (3.7).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 20 were in Oklahoma (+3,119), Indiana (+666), Pennsylvania (+430), Iowa (+396), and Tennessee (+339), while the largest decreases were in California (-2,832), Georgia (-1,168), North Carolina (-1,073), Texas (-971), and Delaware
(-890).

FOOTNOTES
SA - Seasonally Adjusted Data
NSA - Not Seasonally Adjusted Data
¹ - Prior year is comparable to most recent data.
² - Most recent week used covered employment of 126,250,343 as denominator.

UNADJUSTED INITIAL CLAIMS FOR WEEK ENDED 03/20/2004 

STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000 

This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-4676. TDD Message Phone: 1-800-326-2577.  News releases from the U.S. Department of Labor are accessible on the Internet at: http://www.dol.gov/ and  http://www.ows.doleta.gov/


Attachment: - Calendar Year 2004 Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims

	Initial Claims			Continued Claims			IUR		Cov. Employment
	NSA	SF	SA	NSA	SF	SA	NSA	SA
01/03/2004	552,815	151.7	364,000	4,150,431	130.5	3,180,000	3.3	2.5	126,250,343
01/10/2004	677,897	192.7	352,000	3,851,301	120.9	3,186,000	3.1	2.5	126,250,343
01/17/2004	490,763	137.6	357,000	3,798,519	119.7	3,173,000	3.0	2.5	126,250,343
01/24/2004	382,262	110.3	347,000	3,773,316	118.8	3,176,000	3.0	2.5	126,250,343
01/31/2004	406,298	110.9	366,000	3,850,990	122.3	3,149,000	3.1	2.5	126,250,343
02/07/2004	433,234	114.7	378,000	3,776,188	116.9	3,230,000	3.0	2.6	126,250,343
02/14/2004	341,634	97.7	350,000	3,729,369	118.5	3,147,000	3.0	2.5	126,250,343
02/21/2004	328,171	93.2	352,000	3,738,056	119.8	3,120,000	3.0	2.5	126,250,343
02/28/2004	342,140	99.9	342,000	3,674,294	120.2	3,057,000	2.9	2.4	126,250,343
03/06/2004	339,007	99.4	341,000	3,551,292	115.4	3,077,000	2.8	2.4	126,250,343
03/13/2004	312,067	93.6	333,000	3,518,006	116.1	3,030,000	2.8	2.4	126,250,343
03/20/2004	305,243	88.6	345,000	3,398,430	111.0	3,062,000	2.7	2.4	126,250,343
03/27/2004	295,820	86.6	342,000		110.5
04/03/2004		92.1			104.9
04/10/2004		96.8			104.6
04/17/2004		94.2			101.1
04/24/2004		92.7			100.0
05/01/2004		89.0			95.7
05/08/2004		87.9			94.5
05/15/2004		85.6			93.1
05/22/2004		85.3			90.5
05/29/2004		89.3			92.0
06/05/2004		87.7			92.5
06/12/2004		92.9			92.6
06/19/2004		92.3			92.0
06/26/2004		91.3			95.9
07/03/2004		113.2			92.1
07/10/2004		127.0			103.8
07/17/2004		115.6			99.7
07/24/2004		91.3			97.0
07/31/2004		83.6			95.7
08/07/2004		87.2			93.9
08/14/2004		80.4			93.6
08/21/2004		79.5			91.3
08/28/2004		76.5			89.9
09/04/2004		86.1			85.7
09/11/2004		74.6			86.0
09/18/2004		78.5			83.7
09/25/2004		76.1			82.9
10/02/2004		82.8			82.7
10/09/2004		95.5			82.2
10/16/2004		84.7			85.2
10/23/2004		90.8			84.9
10/30/2004		92.1			86.7
11/06/2004		105.1			85.9
11/13/2004		93.1			92.2
11/20/2004		110.0			85.8
11/27/2004		91.7			103.3
12/04/2004		131.1			98.1
12/11/2004		117.2			103.5
12/18/2004		113.2			98.8
12/25/2004		139.3			106.3

Note: NSA=Not Seasonally Adjusted; SA=Seasonally Adjusted; IUR=Insured Unemployment Rate